I'd agree that Woakes getting his test central contract is a touch fortunate, and I'm one of his more staunch defenders. At the moment he needs to prove both that he can bowl consistently at the pace and quality he was last summer (well, not THAT good all the time, which would make him a legendary player - but at the very least something like it most of the time) and that he can perform away from home, although that latter issue also applies to pretty much every England player to some degree.

If Woakes can get back up above 85mph regularly then he's more than worth a place in the team, and giving him a full contract should mean they can keep full control of his workload, so it makes sense. Another year like this one though and he will lose it.